The Goldrush: update

After the big influx that we reported previously on the Demog Blog, and on our very own BTO Bird Migration Blog, things have calmed down somewhat after the initial rush (see BirdTrack chart below). For our ringers however, it's time to start inputting all that data scrupulously collected including age, sex, date, time, location, wing length, weight and fat and muscle scores. 


Goldcrest reporting rate by BirdTrack


Once the BTO receives the data, they will be loaded and the ringer/finder should receive the details about these birds within a few days (as long as the original ringer has submitted the ringing data). If it's a foreign-ringed Goldcrest, the BTO will contact these schemes and exchange information. Just this morning we received a file from Daphne Watson from the Isle of Wight who caught a Belgian ringed Goldcrest and the details arrived with the Belgian Ringing Scheme only 3 hours later (isn't technology brilliant!). They send us the ringing details and we then pass the information onto Daphne.

Unusually pale Goldcrest lacking it's dark pigments taken by Euan Ferguson and Carmen Azahara

Pale Goldcrest compared to a more usual one, taken by Euan Ferguson and Carmen Azahara

Below is a map of the origins of all the Goldcrests ringed abroad that have been caught in Britain & Ireland within the last couple of weeks! There are bound to be a few more and they will arrive in due course, ready for the Online ringing report to be published next year.

Some of the origins of these Goldcrests are very notable, as we have only received a handful of reports from these locations in the last 106 years (it also takes a lot of Goldcrests to get a handful). For example this was the 15th Belgium-ringed, the eighth Polish-ringed and sixth Lithuanian-ringed Goldcrests reported here. Click on the red point to find out how many reports of Goldcrests there have been from each county.